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April 29, 2005 > News > Students enter One Lap of America race

Students enter One Lap of America race

By James Sulak | Thresher staff

While most Rice students will be taking exams next week, six will be participating in a project that involves driving more than 5,000 miles and racing cars in 10 different states. The students and their professor — who form two teams — will be the first entrants from a university to participate in the TireRack Cannonball One Lap of America race from April 30 to May 7. The group will enter two cars in the race: a 1989 Alfa Romeo Milano and a 1988 Isuzu Impulse Turbo.

Materials Science Professor Andrew Barron left for Indiana Wednesday with six students enrolled in his MSCI 615: Automotive Engineering laboratory course. In the One Lap race, Barron and the students will make a loop extending from South Bend, Ind. to the East Coast and back, driving at 10 race tracks along the way.

Barron, Will Rice College freshman Damen Hattori and Baker College sophomore Brad Tonnesen obtained professional certification to drive on the race tracks. The other students will help drive between tracks.

The teams must carry everything they need inside their cars, including tools and spare tires. While driving between race tracks, the teams will have little time to refuel and eat and will not spend any nights in hotels, Barron said.

The teams are entered in the mid-priced sedan and SSGT2 Small Bore categories, open to sedans that originally cost $20,000 to $40,000 and Sports/GT cars that cost less than $40,000. Eight cars are entered in the economy class, and a total of 94 are entered in the competition. Other classes include luxury sedan and vintage foreign.

Barron said the Rice teams have little chance of winning because other teams have more resources and experience on One Lap’s tracks.

‘The most important thing is that [we] have fun,’ Barron said. ‘There’s a saying in racing: ‘To finish first, you first have to finish.’ Our goal is to finish.’

The students in MSCI 615 and the Rice Society of Automotive Engineers spent the semester preparing the cars for the race by improving handling, braking and reliability by changing parts and fixing faults, Barron said.

Tonnesen, the RSAE president, said many team members have been spending 20 hours per week working on the cars.

‘It can really get in the way of homework,’ Tonnesen said.

Lovett College freshman Lucas Marr said the biggest challenge in working on the cars was dealing with the rust on the Milano, because rusty parts make maintenance and replacement more difficult.

Baker College senior Geoff Chow, the president of RSAE last year, asked Barron to teach a class about cars. Barron agreed once the class developed a concrete goal: competing in the One Lap race. He designed MSCI 615: Automotive Engineering for Fall 2004 to teach the engineering principles necessary to repair a car, and he taught MSCI 615 as a lab course this semester.

‘Think of it as a glorified lab experiment,’ Barron said. ‘They are learning an enormous amount of engineering.’

Barron said the project has also taught students about teamwork and business. The project is funded by sponsorships and donations from companies, many of which the students solicited themselves.

Both cars were donated, as were many of the parts the teams used.

Professional autoworkers also donated their time to help teach the teams how to fix and replace parts, Ben Kosbab, a Baker Collge sophomore, said.

Barron said the race’s organizers have been especially helpful because Rice is the first university to enter the competition.

Barron said he hopes Rice’s participation in the event will provide national recognition for its engineering program.

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